Paris - Despite a November fire that continues to hamper rail traffic through the Channel Tunnel, the high-speed Eurostar train linking Paris and London carried a record 9.1 million passengers in 2008, Eurostar president Guillaume Pepys said Tuesday in Paris. That figure represents an increase of some 800,000 passengers - or roughly 10.3 per cent - over the previous year.
Turnover in 2008 rose by 10.9 per cent, to 732 million euros (975 million dollars), Pepys said.
According to Pepys, the fire on a freight train in one of the tunnel sections in November caused sufficient damage to impose schedule changes and a prolongation of the journey by some 20 minutes.
Travel between the European mainland and the British capital is expected to be back to normal by March, he said.
